


From Pen-Pals to Family

by Sarame_Uchiha



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-18
Updated: 2015-03-18
Packaged: 2018-03-18 10:51:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3566954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarame_Uchiha/pseuds/Sarame_Uchiha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Harry's primary school is selected to write to superhero pen-pals, what might happen?</p>
            </blockquote>





	From Pen-Pals to Family

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Harry Potter and The Avengers](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3163796) by [Vampirezdarkgurl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vampirezdarkgurl/pseuds/Vampirezdarkgurl). 



It was one of the rare days that Harry was allowed to go to school. His teachers just thought he was sick all the time. What they didn’t know was that his Uncle Vernon liked to punish him, a lot. Harry didn’t even know why he was being punished sometimes. He had no idea how his second grade teacher’s hair turned blue after all, and there’s no way he could have done it. Unfortunately his Aunt and Uncle didn’t see it that way.

Harry quietly worked on his math problems until the teacher called for their attention. He quietly put away his math workbook and set down his stub of a pencil.

“Listen up class! We have an exciting opportunity for all of you! For the next couple of months we are going to be writing to pen-pals across the pond. These aren’t any old pen-pals either. They are heroes. I have already assigned who is to be writing whom and there will be absolutely no trading. I want each of you to get out your notebooks and find a comfortable place in the room.”

Harry watched as his class all scattered throughout the room. He was ever so glad that Dudley wasn’t in his class this year. He wouldn’t be able to take away this opportunity unlike other special things. He remained at his desk, notebook in front of him. Harry hardly ever spoke in class. He didn’t want to stand out; it was bad to stand out. Even his grades couldn’t stand out, as proven by a slap to the face after his first amazing report card. He had been so excited too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A younger Harry Potter had raced home to show his Aunt his report. He was so excited! Maybe if he kept getting good grades then Aunt Petunia might just let him attend the gifted program like his teacher wanted.

“Auntie! Aunt Petunia, look! We got our reports today! Look, look! Isn’t it great?” He handed her the paper, bouncing up and down in excitement. Maybe she would squeal over him like she had her Dinky-Diddydums when he finally perfected writing his name three weeks ago. Harry had done it sooner, but he refrained from pointing it out at the time.

She snatched the paper out of his hand and read it. Once she reached the section about possibly moving Harry into the gifted program she screamed in frustration. To Harry’s utter surprise, she backhanded him, knocking him to his bum.

“You will never be in the gifted program, you worthless freak! Freaks like you cannot excel in a normal world! You must have done something to make your teacher give you a better grade. Oh yes you must have, with all your freakish ways.”

Harry’s eyes welled up with tears as she tore his report into tiny pieces and tossed it in the trash. He was then sent to his cupboard with no dinner. When he was finally allowed to exit the next morning, Dudley’s mediocre scores were pinned proudly to the fridge with a magnet. He knew then that he could never exceed Dudley’s scores again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~End Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When his teacher handed him his paper, Harry could hardly believe his luck. He had been assigned one of his favorite heroes. Captain America’s smiling face beamed up at him. He was so excited he could hardly stop from bouncing in his chair. He beamed up at his teacher, who gave him an indulgent smile.

This teacher, his fifth grade teacher, was his favorite. She sent home mediocre reports but kept Harry’s real grades secret. She assigned him lunch “detentions” so she could help him learn more, and because she had noticed how horrible his cousin was to him.

Once his teacher, Ms. Flannery, had passed out all the pages, she instructed them on how to write a letter and set them on their task. Harry was so excited and began immediately telling Captain America all about his school.

 

Dear Captain America,

My name is Harry Potter. I am a fifth grade student in Miss Flannery’s class at Little Whinging Primer. I am ten years old. I turn eleven on July thirty-first next year. I have black hair and green eyes and a lightning shaped scar on my forehead.

When Miss Flannery gave me you as my pen-pal, I was so excited! You are one of my most favorite heroes. You didn’t have to do what you did for everybody, but you did it anyway.

I read in a book about your life and how you helped the Allies defeat the Nazis. I also saw that you were like me! I’m an orphan too, sir. I live with my Aunt and Uncle. They told me that my mum and dad died in a car crash. ~~I don’t know if I believe them. I keep having these dreams about a mean man laughing and a bright green light.~~

When I read that you lost a best friend to a mean Nazi person I was sad. I don’t have a best friend anymore. I had one a few years ago. He was nice ~~until my cousin punched him.~~ He moved away at the end of the year and I never saw him again

Oh no, writing time is ending! I have got to say goodbye for now.

Goodbye, sir.

Harry Potter

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Avengers Tower~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mail day at Avengers Tower was starting to become an event. A few schools in the country and in England had been selected to write to them as pen-pals. The American schools had long since finished their pen-pal stints and none of the students had continued to write them. It was now the British schools’ turn. Loads of students had written to each of them and they took time to answer each letter, but one in particular caught a certain Avenger’s eye.

Steve read through Harry’s letter. The boy may be ten, but he wrote like he was both older and younger at the same time. He was intrigued by this boy.

“Ugh, this kid’s penmanship is horrible! And the picture! He looks like a baby hippopotamus or something!” Tony exclaimed.

“Oh, come on now, it can’t be all that bad,” Bruce placated and leaned over Tony’s shoulder to get a look at the kid. He couldn’t help but burst out laughing when he saw the picture. He laughed so hard that he nearly fell off his chair.

Natasha raised an eyebrow and reached a hand out for the picture. Stark handed it over as if the thing might scald him. She took one look and passed it to Clint, biting her lip so she wouldn’t exclaim what she was thinking. Clint did similarly except he made disgusted face and passed the picture on to Thor.

When Thor saw the child he boomed, “I do believe that the child looks more like a pig in a wig than a mighty hippopotamus, Friend Stark!”

Bruce finally fell out of his seat, still laughing raucously.

“Did all of you get pictures with your letters? This one here didn’t have one.” Steve lifted up the letter in question.

“Perhaps the kid was shy?” Natasha asked and looked over the letter. “If you really are one of his favorite heroes, maybe he might be nervous to show you exactly what he looks like?”

“Maybe,” Steve said and then set about writing his reply.

 

Dear Harry,

I was glad to receive you letter. I am terribly sorry about your parents. Do you remember much about them? Do you have any cousins? What are their names?

Fighting in the war was hard, I am just glad that some good came out of it in the end. Hitler’s plans of world domination were brought to a halt. Loosing Bucky was one of the hardest things I ever experienced. He was always there for me since we were young.

I noticed that you hadn’t sent a picture with your letter. Most of your classmates sent one along. Do you not like having your picture taken? If you send me one, I promise that I’ll send you one of the Avengers and I’ll have them all sign it for you.

Hopefully you will still want to write back and forth. I know how boring adults, even heroes, can seem to kids sometimes.

Your pen-pal,

Captain America

 

“So, is it weird for anyone else to be signing as our code names?” He asked as he tucked the letter into an envelope to be sent back to England.

Everyone else just shrugged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Time Skip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry still wrote back and forth constantly to Captain America, who had recently told him his real name was Steve Rodgers. He still had yet to send a picture, but with the summer coming, and his ability to write coming to a close, he had finally decided to send one. He asked Miss Flannery to take a picture of him and send it to Captain America with his last letter of the school year.

She smiled, and took the picture in front of their class cubbies with Harry pointing to his name, a shy smile on his face. He was in his best clothes, but even those were huge on him. There were bruises on his shoulders that looked like a very large hand had grabbed him tightly. When Miss Flannery sent the letter for him, she prayed to whichever god might listen that the boy’s pen-pal might be able to help him.

When Steve received the letter, he was a bit shocked. Sure, Harry had hinted at certain things in his letters, and while most of the time they had been crossed out, Steve had become good at reading through the scored out words.

“Guys, I think we might have a problem.”

“A problem, you say? Is it about your little pen-pal, Capsicle?” Stark inquired.

“I still can’t believe that kid is still writing to you. Every other kid has stopped,” Clint quipped as he played with his quiver, restocking some of his arrow tips.

Steve handed Tony the picture and watched as his teammate’s brow furrowed. Natasha snagged the picture out of his hand. What she had been expecting, she didn’t know, but what she saw made her smile fade.

She handed the picture back to Steve. He stared at it for a little while longer before turning to the letter enclosed. He read it out loud.

 

Dear Captain,

This is the last time I will be able to write until next term. My Aunt and Uncle don’t like it when I get mail. The last time I did they sent me to my ~~cupboard~~ room without dinner for ~~a week.~~ the day. Maybe if you get to come to England you could come ~~save~~ see me at the park near my ~~house~~ home or something.

I hope this summer isn’t like last summer. I was in charge of the garden, even on the really hot days. I grew some really pretty flowers, ~~but I was burnt for weeks.~~ Maybe my cousin Dudley and his friend Piers will finally leave me alone and not want to play Harry Hunting anymore. I’m not holding my breath, but it would be nice not to have to run on an empty stomach.

It’s time for my lunch break with my teacher. I hope you have a better summer than mine is chalking up to be.

Your friend,

Harry

 

“Dudley? Wasn’t that pig-of-a-kid named Dudley? He’s Harry’s cousin? I stopped writing the little bastard when he said that his parents were forced to raise his freak of a cousin. How could any parent call a child a freak, let alone bash his dead parents in such a manner? Don’t they have any respect for the dead?” Tony started pacing with his thinking face in place.

Natasha immediately went to the wall of computers and researched the Dursley residence in Surrey, England. To her surprise, she found a SHIELD file attached to the name Harry Potter. She had JARVIS read them the file.

“Harry James Potter was born July 31, 2001 to James and Lily Potter at St. Mungo’s Center for Magical Maladies. On October 31, 2002, Harry’s parents were killed by a wizard known only as He-who-must-not-be-named or You-know-who. In an unknown manner, when the wizard attempted to kill the fifteen month old Harry Potter, his curse rebounded and You-know-who was killed. He currently resides at Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey and attends Little Whinging Primer where he is in the fifth grade. His IQ is 138 and his magical power scale, of ranks from 0 to 100, rates as a 98. He is considered equal to a number of wizards in ancient lore and currently to Doctor Strange.

Sir, would you like me to call Doctor Strange as an advisor in this situation?” JARVIS finished.

“No need for that JARVIS, but keep his number handy. We might just have an addition to the tower, and any help in training a magic user would be helpful,” Tony had stopped pacing as he listened to his AI read through Harry’s file.

Just Steve was about to ask a question, Thor burst through the door, Mjolnir in hand.

“Come my friends, Heimdall has alerted me to the situation. We must leave at once! Don your armor and gather ‘round. Heimdall will take us there with the Bifrost.”

A flurry of movement launched in the flat. Bruce came in looking confused.

“Bruce, if you would like to come, you can. I would suggest you keep a good handle on your anger if you do,” Clint suggested, rushing out of his room with his Hawkeye gear on.

“What? Why? Where are we going?”

“You remember Captain Rodger’s pen-pal from England, Harry?” Natasha waited until Bruce nodded. “We are apparently going to rescue him.”

“Rescue? Why would we need to rescue-“ He was cut off as Steve in his uniform tossed the picture of Harry into Bruce’s hands. He got one look before he had to shut his eyes and breathe. “I think it would be best if I hang around here in my isolation room. Someone needs to smash something.” Without any adieu, he took off toward his Hulk-proof training room to smash anything in reach.

When the group was ready, they all followed Thor up to the helipad and touched one of his shoulders. He called for Heimdall and the Bifrost sent them spiraling over the ocean and landed just outside Harry’s house in Surrey.

Steve calmly walked over to the door and knocked. The Avengers followed him and stood in a fairly non-threatening manner. Tony even had his visor up.

They heard a slight scuffle before a horse-faced woman answered the door. Before Petunia could slam the door, Steve began an impromptu speech.

“Hello, ma’am. We’re the Avengers. A couple months ago the students at the elementary school started writing to various members of our team as pen-pals. We selected one family out of all of them to receive a surprise visit from us. Might we come in?”

Petunia was all a flutter. It was such an honor for their family to meet heroes, after all. Well, at least some of them, as a few of the team were more normal than others. “One moment, please.” She stepped back inside and shut the door.

Steve caught Natasha’s eye and she nodded. They heard a few thumps, a door slamming shut and what must have been a lock clicking into place before the woman came back out. She smiled a smile that she must think was the most flattering thing ever, but it only suited to make her look all the more horse-like.

“This way please,” she said and led them around the house to the gate of the garden. Once they entered, they noticed two male figures that may as well have been huge tubs of lard. They could certainly see where the pig-boy had received his looks.

They played nice for a few minutes, chatting idly with the trio of Dursleys. Another moment later and Natasha asked if she could use the powder room to freshen up. Petunia guided her into the house and showed her the room before leaving the super-spy on her own.

“Rule number one,” Natasha whispered to herself, “Never leave the Black Widow in a house by herself.”

She moved into the hall where she saw what had to be a cupboard under the stairs. Natasha pulled a lock-pick from her pocket and set to work on the padlock barring Harry from the rest of the world. It took but a moment and she was able to pull the door open.

Harry looked up at her with a soft smile. His green eyes were slightly glazed from a concussion and his lip was split from a particularly hard slap to the face. He gave her a rather pensive smile and whispered, “I knew there was a reason that the Avengers are my favorite heroes.”

Natasha picked the poor boy up in her arms and contacted the others with her com. “I have Harry. Make your final threats and meet me in front of the house.”

When she exited the building, she stood back in the mark of the Bifrost and waited for the men to arrive. A few squeals were heard from behind the house followed by three thuds of bodies hitting the ground. She was smirking when the others rejoined her.

Tony saw the smirk first. “What? We didn’t hurt them. We just threatened them with Loki and they fainted.”

“My brother will surely appreciate the memory I have to show him.”

“Isn’t he in prison or something?” Tony asked.

“My father and mother determined that he was being controlled by an outside force. After he was healed, he was beside himself with grief.”

No one else said anything as they saw Clint’s jaw tighten slightly. To their surprise, his expression turned into a wry smile and he said, “I can accept that, so long as he doesn’t do it again.”

Thor’s laugh boomed. Harry winced and Natasha glared at Thor.

“Harry has a concussion, so if you don’t mind I would like to get him home where we can treat him.”

“Home?” Harry’s tired voice asked.

“Yes, Harry,” Steve said. “Your home is with us now.”

“I am at home with the Avengers,” Harry smiled brightly and they felt something crackle around them. The boy’s head drooped backwards, no longer having the energy to keep it up. Thor immediately called for Heimdall and they were transported to Asgard.

Right behind them was Bruce looking confused once again. When he saw the tiny ten-year-old in Natasha’s arms, he hurried over and took the boy. Despite seeing Harry’s injuries, for once the Other Guy was calm.

“Come, my friends. We must bring young Harry to the healing rooms.” They used one of the flying crafts to transport the team to the palace where they were met by Frigga.

“Well met, my son and his companions. I see you were able to complete your mission. Come, bring him to the healing chambers, we will heal him of his ails,” she stated and waved them on to follow her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Time Skip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry was finally ready to graduate from Hogwarts. With the Avengers, Loki, and Doctor Strange as his teachers, he had been over prepared for the curriculum. After five years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry was graduating with every NEWT he could. Once he arrived back at Avenger’s tower, he would begin his real apprenticeship with Loki and Doctor Strange. Sure, the wanded magic was spectacular, but he couldn’t wait to learn more about mixing technology and magic, and casting spells without a wand.

A bright smile nearly consumed his face as he remembered the day that the Avengers became his family. When he was much younger, he never would have imagined that he could possibly live anywhere else but with his Aunt and Uncle at the age of fifteen. If they hadn’t rescued him, then he would never have known Peter Parker or any of his mutant friends like Kitty Pryde and Bobby Drake.

Harry boarded the Hogwarts Express for the last time, excited to continue his journey much further than he could possibly have if he stayed in the wizarding world. With his family of Avengers, he never felt out of place, even when they had learned that he could speak to snakes. They even promised him that he could eventually become part of their crime fighting, world saving team, if he wanted.

He smiled brightly once more while looking out the window. His family was the best!


End file.
